Indian officials have arrested the chief organiser of last year's Commonwealth Games as part of a corruption investigation into the scandal-plagued competition in New Delhi.

India had hoped that the Games would help it project the image of a rising superpower, but instead it was embarrassed by corruption allegations, construction delays and cost overruns as the budget ballooned to 700 billion rupees (£9.1bn) from an estimated 18.9 billion rupees.

Suresh Kalmadi, the highest-ranking member of the organising committee to be arrested, has been charged with conspiracy for allegedly favouring a Swiss company in the purchase of equipment for timing and scoring events, said a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) spokeswoman, Dharini Mishra.

Two other officials on the organising committee – Lalit Bhanot and VK Verma – were arrested earlier in the same case.

The CBI claims the government was cheated out of 1.41 billion rupees paid to Swiss Timings Ltd for equipment available from another company for much less.